Ed Burns alluded to the Black Dahlia abattoir, The Hirsh Apts., in his 2nd and
3rd messages. We didn't find an allusion to the Hirsh in his 1st message: we didn't
look for one. Let's look for said allusion in the 1st message. We'll examine the area
corresponding to where Ed plotted the Hirsh rectangle in his 3rd message. We will
focus on: "HERE!"; "BeloNGingS"; and "LETTER."

Xerox of Ed Burns' 1st Message

Well, Black Dahlia riddlers, do you see a locus of a "Hirsh" rectangle? If not,
it's OK. We'll puzzle it out, clue by clue . . .
Ed Burns positioned a capital "H" right "HERE," where Hirsh Apts. likes it: in
the upper left corner.
Ed "topped" the exclamation point. He might've done this to make an "i" or an
"I" out of it. Let's take it for an "I."
The "R" in "LETTER" is a weirdity: the left leg sports a horizontal serif; the right
leg flaunts a conspicuously vertical "Ed Burns custom" serif. The long vertical serif
defines a vertical. The short horizontal serif implies a horizontal; with help from its
line mates, it defines a horizontal: this is illustrated below.
So . . . We have the "H" from "HERE," an exclamatory "I," and an "R" from
"LETTER." But instead of an "S" in the lower left corner, we have an "L." This "L"
is elevated relative to the "R": Ed did this for a to-be-explained reason. For now,
fantasize this: the "L" is an "S"; this "S" was transplanted from beside-the-postage-
stamps "PApERS" . . .
OK. We're anxious to draw. And we know where to put every segment save
the upper horizontal. Hmmmm . . . Oh, I see it. Ed used the rightside environs to
tell us precisely where to draw this segment. See how he did this? Clever!

It's a parallelogram. Let's draw diagonals and check out the intersection. The
parallelogram looks to be a perfect rectangle. The diagonals intersect inside the
slot between "e" and "L." The symbolic significance of this will be illuminated.
Ed Burns utilized outside-of-rectangle guides in definition of both horizontals
in his 1st-message Hirsh rectangle. Guides are circled in the Xerox above.
Scanning right to left, guides for the upper horizontal are: the bottoms of the
apostrophe and the left quote mark; the end of the "s" cusp. These three guides
are aligned with the bottom of the "I." It's profoundly unlikely that this happened
by chance. Ed was saying, "The upper horizontal exists, and it goes here!"
Reading right to left, guides for the lower horizontal are: the "cavern bottom"
in the "o"; the bottom of the "T." These two guides are aligned with the horizontal
serif on the "R." Not an accident. Ed was saying, "The lower horizontal is, and it
goes here. Believe it!"
The right vertical is defined by the spectacular vertical serif on the "r." The left
vertical grazes the outer edges of the "H" and the "L."
. . . So we have a "HirLH = HirLh" rectangle? No. We have a "Hir H = Hir h"
rectangle. The "L" isn't in the corner! It misses by a smidgen. Burns did this for a
reason. He was saying that "L" doesn't belong in the corner: it simply saves space
for a letter that belongs. What letter does belong in this corner? Look diagonally
across the character field, at the "s" that conspicuously clashes with every other
character in its "host" line . . . And proceed to the next paragraph . .

Previously, we noted that the "PApERS" white-on-dark "S" seems out of
place. Well, Ed Burns agreed. He used "Ap" to point out where "S" belongs.

Xerox of Ed Burns' 1st Message

Keep in mind that Ed was ultra-purposeful with every character and/or mark
he put into his messages, and . . .
Note that a thready line ties the "S" slab to the "p"-stem slash. This slash is a
peculiar one. Scan the slash from right to left: observe that it severs the "p"-stem,
curves upward, then runs along the base of the "A" and stops at the bottom of the
left "A" leg. The leftward part of the slash and the left "A" leg create an arrowhead
form that's symmetric about the left "A"-leg serif. The arrowhead points diagonally
across the character field. Ed used an ostensibly innocuous symbol, an "i" dot, to
show us precisely where his character-position-transfer contrivance points.
And it points directly at the "L." So Ed Burns was telling us that the "S" was to
supplant same-character-type "L" in the lower left corner? Yes, but if that had been
all he was telling us, the pointer most likely would've been the lower left corner of
the "S" slab . . . Ed also was telling us that the "Ap" was to be a part of the Hirsh-
rectangle decryption.

Diagonals intersect in the slot between
"e" and "L." Word-partials "Be" and "TT"
are separated by the intersection/slot. It's as
if "Bett" was cut in half by this intersection/
slot. The partials "Be" and "TT" are kindred
alpha couples: white letters of the same size
and font. They "match." Letter type was an
important expedient to Ed Burns. It played a
big part in tranferring "s" to "Hirsh." "Bett"
is a nickname for "Betty," not as common as
"Bette," but documented and used. So why
didn't Ed make "e" after "TT" of the same ilk
as "TT," to get a "Bette"? Because he was a
recycler. He wanted "T" and "T" to stand out
for use as pointers in: "Bet on . . ." And the
symbolism is palpable. Ed Burns was telling
us that Bett/Betty was X'd out and bisected
in The Hirsh Apts. . . . In other words:
Bett was killed and bisected in Hirsh Ap, or
Bett was killed and bisected in The Hirsh Apts.

The HIRSH Apts. Revisited, in Ed Burns' 3rd Message

HIRSH AThe Decryption Goes On

The Decryption Goes On
Ed's 1st trilogy message told us about
the bisection. His 3rd message mentioned
it too, but we ignored it. A Xerox of a part
of the 3rd message is at the left. Note that
the rectangle is seemingly cut in two by a
"Y" at the left and a "w" at the right. And
this probably happened by chance(?) No!
Ed did this for good reason and he told us
he did. Eyeball the "w" . . . Ed scooted it
leftward and tilted it counterclockwise. I'm
confident he did this to clue us in on his
bisection encryption. So the 3rd-message
Hirsh Apts. decryption is:
I/Ed killed and bisected the Dahlia
in a hotel at 300 East Washington

Summary of HIRSH Apts. Decryptions
From 1st Message: Bett was killed and bisected
in The Hirsh Apts.
From 3rd Message: I/Ed killed and bisected the Dahlia
in a hotel at 300 East Washington